With Transformer (TX), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is giving ‘off-road’ an entirely new meaning. Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works® is leading a team with Piasecki Aircraft to develop the next generation of compact, high-speed vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned payload delivery systems under the Transformer programme. Continue reading
Category Archives: Military UAS
Northrop Grumman Announces Progress on German EuroHawk Programme
A Northrop Grumman Corp spokesman said that his company was making “a lot of progress” in talks with the German government about the country’s stalled purchase of four Euro Hawk UAS, and what is needed to certify their airworthiness. Continue reading
US Air Force Report on Unmanned Aircraft Due in September
The head of the US Air Force’s remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) Capabilities Division expects a major review to be complete by the end of September. Continue reading
US Navy Awards UCLASS Preliminary Design Contracts
Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems have each received a $15 million fixed-price contract for a preliminary design review (PDR) assessment for the US Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance and Strike aircraft. Continue reading
Textron Unveils Battlehawk Loitering Munition
Textron Defense Systems unveiled a small UAS with an added special surprise—it’s also a flying hand grenade. Designed to be carried by an infantry squad, the BattleHawk is an approximately five-pound collapsible UAS with an onboard video camera, all packed in a spring-loaded launch tube.
AeroVironment Gets $13.5m US Army Contract for RQ-11B Raven sUAS and Gimballed Payloads
AeroVironment, Inc. has announced that it has received a $13,487,240 order from the United States Army. The order – the final portion of a contract valued at $59.6 million – includes RQ-11B Raven unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), miniature gimballed payloads and initial spares packages, and is funded from the Army’s fiscal 2012 procurement budget.
MQ-8B Fire Scout Unmanned Helicopter Passes 5,000 Flight Hours in Afghanistan
Since deploying to Afghanistan in 2011, the MQ-8 Fire Scout system has provided real-time airborne surveillance and targeting supporting counter improvised explosive devices (IEDs), provided targeting support and delivered real-time video to military forces on the ground.
US Marines in Hawaii to Get 57 Shadows/Integrators
Surveillance UAS use and development is on the rise in the military and civilian sectors, and the Marine Corps in Hawaii said it is expected to get a dozen RQ-7B Shadows followed by 45 RQ-21A Integrators with the relocation of Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 3 from California to Kaneohe Bay. Continue reading